The sport of skiing is rapidly becoming one of the most popular outdoor sports in America. However, the length of the typical ski presents logistical problems. When skis are transported by a motor vehicle, it is frequently necessary to place the skis on externally mounted ski racks due to their extreme length.
Typical ski racks are not adapted to fit the wide variety of motor vehicles in popular use. One group of vehicles which presents a particular problem for conventional ski racks are recreational and four wheeled drive vehicles. Many of these vehicles have an open cab which precludes the mounting of conventional ski racks. Those recreational and four wheeled drive vehicles which have a closed cab often have high roofs which make it difficult to reach skis mounted there.
One typical feature of recreational and four wheeled drive vehicles is an externally rear-mounted spare tire. The present invention provides a ski rack equipped with a novel mounting device designed to fit on an externally rear-mounted, spare tire. Since the externally rear-mounted tire of most recreational and four wheeled drive vehicles is positioned for easy access, mounting a ski rack on this tire renders the skis more readily accessible and easier to store than conventional roof mounted ski racks.